Breakdown of Если ты вкладываешь мало, отдача тоже будет маленькой.
ты
you (singular)
тоже
also
маленький
small
мало
little
быть
to be
если
if
вкладывать
to invest, to put in
отдача
the payoff, the return
Questions & Answers about Если ты вкладываешь мало, отдача тоже будет маленькой.
How could I rewrite this sentence using the lesson's target grammar, столько же ... сколько, to mean 'There will be as much payoff as you put in'?
You would need to use the Genitive case for отдача after столько. It would look like this: Будет столько же отдачи, сколько ты вкладываешь. Notice how столько triggers the Genitive singular form (отдачи).
Why is it будет маленькой (Instrumental) instead of будет маленькая (Nominative)?
When using the future tense of the verb 'to be' (будет), predicate adjectives are typically put in the Instrumental case. While you might hear the Nominative in very casual speech, the Instrumental is the standard way to describe a state something will take on in the future.
Why use the quantity word мало in the first half, but the adjective маленькой in the second?
What does the prefix в- add to the verb вкладываешь here?
The base imperfective verb here relates to putting or laying things down (класть). The prefix в- means 'in' or 'into,' so вкладывать literally means 'to put into.' It is the standard Russian verb for investing money, time, energy, or effort.
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